In current gaming machines such as slot machines which have bonus schemes, players are able to receive various awards associated with various events in a bonus round. For example, a player may receive a relatively high bonus value for selecting a certain symbol and a relatively low bonus value for selecting another symbol. The bonus value awarded for the same symbol can also vary. For instance, if a player chooses a symbol on one occasion, the game may award a certain bonus value, and if the player chooses the same symbol on another occasion, the game may award a different bonus value. The bonus values which are awarded to a player are predetermined by a computer using known data or by randomly generating data based upon one or more mathematical formulas. For any single symbol or combination of symbols, these techniques often derive bonus values from a single set of possible bonus values. For example, existing gaming devices utilize pay tables which include various sets of values with each set corresponding to a predetermined combination of symbols. European Patent Application No. EP 0 945 837 A2 filed on Mar. 18, 1999 and assigned on its face to WMS Gaming, Inc. discloses a bonus scheme generally of this type.
These types of bonus schemes are unable to award bonus values outside of this set of bonus values. Therefore, they cannot apply different sets or levels of bonus values for different purposes. For instance, these bonus schemes cannot apply different award levels for different levels of success achieved by a player or for a player's failure to achieve a level of success.
To increase player enjoyment and excitement, it is desirable to provide players with gaming devices having new bonus schemes which have multiple award levels applied in a single bonus round.